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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Virtual reality contact lenses

Contact
lenses which focus 3D screens directly into people's eyeballs could be
on sale as early as 2014, says U.S. company Innovega.
The tiny 'screens' sit directly on users' eyeballs and work with a pair
of lightweight glasses with a built-in translucent screen. The experience is equivalent to a 240-inch television viewed at a distance of 10 feet, says Innovega's CEO Steve Willey.

The devices can 'pair' with smartphones and
portable game devices to deliver up-close video - or switch to a
translucent 'augmented reality' view, where computer information is
layered over the world we know. Crucially,
the devices can be worn while moving about - previous bulky 'VR
headsets' have blindfolded their users and can only be used sitting
down.The effect could be similar to the lenses worn by Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

The company is also developing hi-tech lenses
for use by American soldiers, feeding battlefield information directly
into their eyes.DARPA - the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, thought of as the American military's
'mad scientist' wing - has been funding research on 'soldier mounted
displays' for some time. It's now working on 'iOptik' lenses with Innovega.

The lenses, made with nano-scale engineering
processes,work as a hi-tech focusing device, which allows Innovega's
glasses to be considerably less bulky than previous devices.
The lenses themselves require no power, and thus can sit safely on the eyeball.